[Source: Gamesa Imoca 60] On 2 May, at 1540, whilst training off Thorness Bay, Isle of Wight, in 12 knots of wind, Mike Golding’s IMOCA 60, Gamesa, was dismasted following a suspected failure in the furling gear. Mike Golding, and his crew of Graham Tourell (Boat Captain) and Mike Ferguson (Preparateur) were all unhurt in the incident.
The mast has been recovered to the deck, in one piece, and the team are currently returning Gamesa to her berth at Ocean Village, Southampton.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

[Source: IMOCA 60 Class] The Europa Race will indeed set sail from Istanbul on 5 May 2012. Under threat for a while, in the face of the Franco-Turk diplomatic controversy, the race is finally going ahead thanks to the combined willingness of the organiser, Olay Nautic, and IMOCA who have made sure that everything is in place so that this essential meeting is honoured in the event schedule.

- 3 legs : Istanbul – Barcelona – Lisbon – La Rochelle
- 2 legs in crewed configuration and a 3rd one in solo configuration to prepare for the Vendée Globe
- Seven boats at the start, potentially 9

On 16 February 2012, Cumali Varer (Olay Nautic) confirmed that he was having difficulty guaranteeing the organisation of the Europa Race, following the Franco-Turk controversy relating to the matter in Armenia. With the Constitutional Council declaring the bill inadmissible, Cumali Varer got back in touch with the IMOCA class at the end of February, stating that he was once more in a position to organise this tour of Europe.

In the meantime, the IMOCA class didn’t stand idle. Indeed, convinced of the need to maintain this event, the class’ committee got in touch with all the different teams so as to offer them an alternative scheme. Sticking with the race was an obvious step forward on a sporting level, added to which it was important to respect the commitments made with the racers’ partners. The aim of providing a solution which was as close as possible to the initial dates is what drove the thinking within the IMOCA class.

A Europa Race with two formats
In the end there will be three legs on the programme for the Europa Race. The first, from Istanbul to Barcelona, will see the crews adapting to what are always changeable conditions in the Mediterranean. After that, the fleet will pass through the Strait of Gibraltar bound for Portugal. At that stage there will be a switch in format for the final leg, which will be run in solo configuration as far as La Rochelle, a course spanning some 2,500 miles or so. This objective fulfils all the criteria for both the class and the organiser: enabling the sailors to get the measure of each other in race mode and single-handed configuration, prior to the start of the next Vendée Globe.

An international vocation
The Europa Race is a fantastic opportunity to confirm the IMOCA class’ willingness for internationalisation. Setting out from Istanbul, which sits astride Europe and Asia, the race will stop off in Barcelona, which is the major pole of development for offshore racing in Spain. The start and finish venue for the Barcelona World Race, the Catalan capital has been on a real drive for several years to encourage a sizeable contingent of Iberian sailors to take up single-handed racing. Meantime Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, is steeped in the history of the discovery of unknown lands, whilst La Rochelle remains one of the major hubs for offshore racing in France.

Seven crews have confirmed their desire to be at the start in Istanbul: Acciona, Banque Populaire, Cheminées Poujoulat, Groupe Bel, MACIF, Safran and Virbac-Paprec 3. Two other teams could join them. After a few jolts, the Europa Race will demonstrate the true extent of its appeal in a few weeks’ time.

He’s one of the world’s most accomplished sailors, having recently established a brand new record, circumnavigating the world in 45 days. Peyron is in Oman, helming the Zoulou Extreme 40 boat at the opening event of the 2012 Extreme Sailing Series circuit. We caught up with him before the final day’s races and talked about offshore sailing, his record, the Extreme 40′s and the Team Energy challenge in the America’s Cup. [Note: The interview was done in French and the translation in English is mine, so any possible error or incoherence is due to the translation]

VSail.info: I always wanted to ask you this question. When you are in the middle of the ocean, with your huge trimaran doing 30 knots, banging on the waves and you trying to get some sleep, have you ever felt fed up with it?
Loïck Peyron: No, never.

VSail.info: Wouldn’t you rather have a nice sleep at home?
Loïck Peyron: Yes, in that sense I’d rather be in the comfort of my home but everybody that is away from home and if everything in their life is going well would like to be at home, obviously. That’s true for everybody whose job requires them to be absent, whether they are sailors, fishermen or pilots. Even if you love your job and you appreciate the moments you spend, even the bad ones, you always want to return home. I can never say I’m fed up but on the other hand, particularly in offshore sailing, time is extremely elastic. In life in general, you feel that time might flow faster or slower but this feeling is more intense in offshore sailing

The start of an offshore race, the first few days, is relatively normal. The flow of time is quite normal and follows that of a clock. Since we choose to start when wind conditions are as favorable as possible, we sail fast, we feel very well because we left when it was winter and we now have good weather, plenty of sunshine, we start getting used to it and everything onboard goes smoothly. When you are in the southern hemisphere, you are forced to be much more attentive, the nights are shorter and pass rapidly, even if the days get longer, so up to that point everything is relatively good.

When you pass the halfway point of the race, when you stop distancing yourself from the start and you start getting closer to the finish, that’s when time starts feeling passing slower, days drawing out. We are ahead of the record time, there are icebergs and potential problems, so we start feeling the pressure. The potential problems might not become bigger but we have much more probabilities to stop everything. In the first half we had the right to do stupid things, to break something but paradoxically, the further we approach the finish the bigger danger becomes.

VSail.info: Why?
Loïck Peyron: Because you run the risk to abruptly stop everything while you are doing fine, without of course you taking that decision. As a result, time goes by very slowly during the last days or last weeks. In the Barcelona World Race I did a year ago with Jean-Pierre Dick the last three weeks seemed endless. Going for three weeks upwind on a monohull, there I could say you could be fed up.

VSail.info: During your recent round-the-world attempt was there any moment you thought you wouldn’t be able to break the record?
Loïck Pyeron: Of course, all the time, even if you are ahead of the record time. All you need is just an iceberg, a floating object or a technical breakdown to stop you completely. We felt quite comfortable with the weather conditions. Even during the last five days when we had to extend our route, we were feeling we had favorable weather but we were still not sure we were going to break the record because everything could happen.

VSail.info: Even if you had to go so much west to go north, did you feel confident about your weather models?
Loïck Peyron: Absolutely. We felt very confident, given the boat’s performance. Still, we were absolutely conscious there were random factors. When you sail so fast on a multihull everything can happen. It’s completely random. A tree trunk floating on the ocean that hits a hull can stop everything.

VSail.info: So, what is the most important factor in beating such a record? Is it luck, the boat, the weather, the crew?
Loïck Peyron: The weather. Optimal weather conditions can allow you to beat the record, even with older boats.

VSail.info: You rounded the world in 45 days. Do you envision the record being brought down to less than 40 days?
Loïck Peyron: Of course. It can even go lower. Twenty years ago we couldn’t grasp the possibility of rounding the world in 80 days. I was there, with my brother and Blake and we were wondering what we could do in order to bring the record to less than 80 days. That was the limit back then and we now have 45 days. The only issue is the weather. Depressions have a given speed and in the southern hemisphere we cannot go faster than them. We can go faster but we stumble in the mild weather systems and transitions are very difficult because you have light winds, in general. That’s where we can have a factor that blocks the record attempts but, in decreasing order of importance, gains will come from weather management, or the luck to have a weather that is 100% favorable, and the fact to shorten distances.

There is, obviously, no direct route because of the weather but in the recent record break we still sailed 9,500-10,000 miles more than the hypothetical direct route. So, 10,000 miles is quite a number of days even if, as I said, there is no direct route in sailing. Nevertheless, all records are made to be broken and the only boat that currently exists, able to break the record we just established, is the one we used. She is magnificent, very well built, very enjoyable to sail, very powerful. It’s a beautiful machine but she needs to be well managed at all times, you can’t give her to everybody to sail.

VSail.info: What is more enjoyable for you? Rounding the world in that machine of 100 feet or doing windward/leeward races half a mile long with an Extreme 40?
Loïck Peyron: Both. I have the chance to be able to do both. That’s precisely the interest. Doing that every day, here, is quite good but you have to do other things as well.

VSail.info: Where do you feel more comfortable?
Loïck Peyron: I feel equally comfortable on both but now there is a lot more people that feel comfortable on a 40-foot catamaran than people able to circumnavigate the globe on 100-foot trimarans, so competition is much more difficult here.

Loïck Peyron helms the Team Energy AC45 catamaran. Cascais, 21 July 2011. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / America's Cup

VSail.info: Do you also feel comfortable on an AC45 wing catamaran?
Loïck Peyron: Yes, they are exceptional boats! There are also other notions that come into play in these boats and it’s the AC72′s that will most certainly be of great interest to me. They are great, brilliant machines, completely different from what we know so far. There is simply no comparison. They are not in competition against other boats, they are just a great addition. The Cup will always remain the pinnacle of sailing and it now has brilliant boats. Still, I have been reading your website and I feel you don’t like the AC45′s or the Extreme 40′s!

VSail.info: No, it’s not a question of whether I like them or not. It’s a question of the advantage they give Oracle Racing over the challengers. Do you feel Oracle Racing have an unbridgeable advantage in design?
Loïck Peyron: No, not at all. They won the 33rd America’s Cup with their wing trimaran and the next morning they offered everybody the same wing design. Don’t forget the AC45 wing concept is exactly the same with the USA17 wing design. Just the fact they sell, give or rent boats with the same technology, in smaller scale, to everybody is a sign. It isn’t the only one though. We all know that in the history of the America’s Cup the Defender always had an advantage and if there is one thing I dream of, is that it is imperative for the survival of the America’s Cup, the way we are seeing it now, that Oracle won next year. It’s imperative. They should absolutely not lose it.

VSail.info: What will happen if Team New Zealand wins?
Loïck Peyron: Then the Cup will be over, for me. The Cup, the way we see it today will be over. Can you name any person on this planet, other than Larry Ellison, able to invest so much? I, actually, don’t give a damn who will win. In fact, may the best win. But for the survival of the Cup, the way we are seeing it today, the new way to film it and share it with the widest audience possible, that’s what we all want after all, Oracle must win. We don’t want it to remain a small event, followed by a few guys that like watching boats heeling, 10 miles offshore. I don’t care about such an event. It existed in the past, that’s fine, but it doesn’t exist any more, I’m sorry. I think I’d better say I’m happy.

What we now have is a show with incredible boats and really crazy races that everybody loves. Damn! I have sailed on so many boats but I swear I never felt the sensation I have on the AC45′s. Everything they have done in this new Cup is exceptional. They have the smarts to do it but, most importantly, they have colossal resources. Who provides that? It’s Larry Ellison. If he doesn’t hold the Cup any longer he won’t put in all that and not just for him but for everybody. He actually puts in for everybody. When we take part in the AC45 regattas, the inscription fee we pay is less than the price of the two cameras we have onboard. Have you watched the broadcasts? We have never seen that before.

I might be wrong but I think it’s the only way to shake things, to make some buzz so that we have more than three guys watching the races from the beach. It’s the only way and so far the only guy putting money in a disinterested way is Larry Ellison. Of course, he invests in his own team to keep hold of the Cup but he could very well not be doing all the rest. Does he have any obligation to do it? Did he really have to invest 5 million dollars to have a complete design package, ready to be bought by the other challengers? Does he have any obligation to invest tens of millions in TV production? Is anybody forcing him to do that? Nobody. If he really wanted to just keep the Cup he wouldn’t be doing that.

We should never forget that. I’m not saying all this because I owe him something. I don’t have any Oracle shares. I don’t give a damn but without that guy we wouldn’t be now where we are.

VSail.info: Have your brother and you decided to challenge for the America’s Cup because of the change from a monohull to a catamaran?
Loïck Peyron: No, not necessarily. We had looked into the possibility of entering the Cup in the past with Bertrand Pacé. It, obviously, helped it was a multihull but it wasn’t the only factor. It was all those things I told you about. A year ago, we felt, even if it was still a bit early, that there was this change in philosophy. They wanted to change the game, transform it, bring it closer to the public, create exciting races, change the rules. All the utopias, the dreams that exist in the sport of sailing since 30 years ago can now be found in this America’s Cup.

VSail.info: Do you think this time France has real chances in winning the America’s Cup?
Loïck Peyron: Why do you refer to a country?

VSail.info: You are a French team after all. You have a French flag on your shirts.
Loïck Peyron: It’s not the size of your flag or its colors that decide your potential. It’s never a country that challenges for the America’s Cup, with the possible exception of New Zealand. All challenges since 160 years ago are private. It’s one person that challenges, it’s private resources. Since it’s, unfortunately, a mechanical sport that requires private resources and in France, for many historical reasons, we lack these private resources, we will always have problems, regardless of the know-how we might have.

VSail.info: Conventional wisdom wanted that a Cup in multihulls would be a golden opportunity for the French.
Loïck Peyron: Of course it’s a golden opportunity but if you don’t have money, you don’t have money! If you are poor, you are poor. That’s a fact and being French will not change that! If we can’t make it, it won’t be the end of the world. We never had any certainty we would be there.

VSail.info: Let’s talk about Team Energy. Where are you standing right now?
Loïck Peyron: Well, we will continue the AC45 circuit, that’s for sure. Apart that, we have absolutely no guarantee we will be able to build an AC72. It’s as simple as that. No money, at least not for now. It’s a pity though because we really have everything required on the design side. We are ready to press on the start button to build a good AC72 but we will be undoubtedly late, undoubtedly.

VSail.info: Even if you had the necessary funding tomorrow morning will you still be less competitive in the Louis Vuitton Cup?
Loïck Peyron: Yes, absolutely. It would be illogical to think we could have an advance over the other three challengers if we started tomorrow. That’s self evident. Still, an AC72 will always be a big multihull and in that domain, I wouldn’t say we have an advance but we have the necessary culture. There is a lot of people in France that have the skills for a big multihull and we could potentially reduce part of the delay thanks to that culture. At least that’s what I hope and that’s where I’m betting on. That’s an opportunity we should grab. Don’t forget there are only three teams so far for the Louis Vuitton Cup and four would be a nice number.

VSail.info: Do you see it as a problem for the organization, a negative point, if there are just three challengers?
Loïck Peyron: Three is certainly not as pretty as six. There is however a very difficult financial reality we have to take into consideration. The small error they maybe committed was to announce they had 15 challengers. I don’t think it was necessary, there was no need to over-promise. Still, that was a couple of years ago and things change fast, I don’t blame them for that. You always want to do the best you can. Even with three challengers, quality will be there.

VSail.info: So, will you continue with the AC45 regattas until May 2013, even if you don’t find the necessary funding for an AC72 yacht?
Loïck Peyron: Yes. It could also be a little bit longer because I heard they would like, probably, to organize an AC45 World Championship in San Francisco between the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup. If true, that would be a very good idea. It’s not stupid and it is even more justified if there are just three teams in the LVC. If this World Championship does take place we will take part.

VSail.info: Is it so hard to find corporate funding in France?
Loïck Peyron: Yes and that has always been the problem with the America’s Cup in France. All the previous French teams had problems getting the necessary funding and it’s a normal thing, not only in the current difficult period. The America’s Cup has always had a negative image in France and there have been some stories in the past that have “traumatized” the corporate sponsors. In addition, when one talks about sailing in France there are so many nice stories beyond the Cup, I would say too many of them, that are much more affordable. Take the Vendée Globe, the Route du Rhum, the Jules Verne, just to give a few examples.

VSail.info: What was your budget for the Banque Populaire campaign?
Loïck Peyron: It was approximately 3.5 million euros per year during 5 years, of which 10-12 million euros were for the design and construction of the boat.

VSail.info: Isn’t Banque Populaire interested in sponsoring you and Team Energy?
Loïck Peyron: As you can very well see, the bank’s name contains the word “Populaire” [popular] and the America’s Cup still isn’t, unfortunately, popular in France. I would even say it’s the contrary and we always have to fight against that. It’s strange though but in France each time we are asked the question it’s always about just sponsoring. Take a look at the current four teams. What do you have? An American guy, an Italian guy, a Swedish guy and a group of friends together with a government. It’s not sponsors, it’s not stickers. It’s never the case. Sponsors are there just for running the team but you will never get a return from 100% of a strong budget in the America’s Cup. It’s unfeasible. I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s just the way it is.

VSail.info: If that’s the case why are you then trying?
Loïck Peyron: Because you will never attack with the resources Ellison or Bertarelli have. You never do that. You don’t attack from the top, you attack from the bottom. In monohulls you had no chances unless you attacked from the top. The boat rule was so close that you needed tons of resources. On the other hand, right now, anything could happen with the multihulls, at least in this Cup. I’m confident our boat could be at least as competitive. I’m not saying it will but we have the chances. I feel confident on the design side. All we need is the resources to build the boat and feed our guys for 6 months. We just need 15 million euros. The word “just” is of course relative.

VSail.info: Do you think that with just 15 million euros you could have a competitive campaign?
Loïck Peyron: Of course, since we haven’t had the time to spend it so far and we only have one year left. We have been working on that since three years and we haven’t been paid.

VSail.info: Haven’t you been paid?
Loïck Peyron: By whom?

VSail.info: I don’t know, I see you have a Corum logo on your shirt.
Loïck Peyron: Yes, but that’s not enough to cover the entirety of our engagement until the summer of 2013. I’m not even doing that for the glory.

VSail.info: Then I guess you must like sailing.
Loïck Peyron: Yes, too much unfortunately. That’s my problem. [Laughs]

[Source: Vendée Globe] Winner of the last Solitaire du Figaro, then the Transat Jacques Vabre alongside Jean-Pierre Dick in the autumn, the skipper from Morlaix in Brittany, Jérémie Beyou announced on Friday morning that he will be taking part in the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe aboard the monohull on which Michel Desjoyeaux won the last edition of the race.

Jérémie Beyou will be making his return to the round the world race thanks to the support of his new partner, the Vendée based company Maître Coq, which specializes in high quality poultry products.

The Vendée Globe is pleased to see Jérémie Beyou returning to become the sixteenth skipper to register for the 2012-2013 race, which will start from Les Sables d’Olonne on Saturday 10th November.

The Vendée Globe on track

Following the recent registrations from Alessandro di Benedetto (ITA), Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (FRA) and Samantha Davies (GBR) last December, Jérémie Beyou’s announcement takes us to sixteen skippers registered, fulfilling the goal set for the next Vendée Globe of seeing between 15 and 20 skippers lining up.

Bruno Retailleau, President of the SAEM Vendée: “The Vendée Globe is really pleased to see Jérémie returning as one of the entrants for the next Vendée Globe. His performance and determination confirm the high competitive standard that we shall be seeing in the next Vendée Globe. As President of the Vendée Council, I can also welcome the presence of another sponsor from Vendée, seeing the positive effects of the business community and leaders in Vendée becoming involved with the skippers. The Vendée Globe is an exceptional way to communicate, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, who can currently make the most of some great opportunities… With Jérémie Beyou registering, the Vendée Globe is on track to hit the target we set ourselves of seeing between 15 and 20 skippers taking part.”

Beyou making his comeback

He was there at the start of the 2008 Vendée Globe, but after damage to the rig of his monohull, Jérémie Beyou was forced to suspend his race on 23rd November and head for the port of Recife in Brazil, where he announced his retirement from the race shortly afterwards. However, showing determination and strength of character, the Breton skipper promised that he would be back again…, and now he has achieved that first goal.

He began ocean racing at the age of twenty and having taken part in 12 Solitaire du Figaro events and 11 solo transatlantic crossings, Jérémie Beyou recently won the 2011 Transat Jacques Vabre (double-handed with Jean-Pierre Dick) and achieved his second victory in the Solitaire du Figaro (2005 and 2011). On board the monohull which Michel Desjoyeaux sailed to victory in the last Vendée Globe, Jérémie will be at the helm of a boat that should allow him to show everyone the full extent of his talent.

[Source: Banque Populaire] Since 12 :17 :30 (French time) this Friday, Loïck Peyron and his men are back in the Northern Hemisphere, 38 days 2 hours 45 minutes and 48 seconds * after leaving Ushant. With this outstanding performance, the Maxi Banque Populaire V not only writes a new distinction to his logbook, but also improves the partial Equator to Equator with a lead of 3 days 18 hours 24 minutes over Groupama 3 in 2010 but above all, faster than any other sailing boat on this race. A good sign for the fourteen sailors entering their final week at sea.

With this new partial shattered, the Maxi Banque Populaire V carries on falling records on her attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy. 32 days 11 hours 51 minutes and 30 seconds * after entering the southern hemisphere, the fourteen record’s hunters shattered the time set in 2005 by Bruno Peyron aboard Orange II, improving it by more than one day. Still enjoying mild conditions, the crew of the Maxi Banque Populaire V, by the voice of his skipper, savors the moment of the crossing: “We crossed the equator at high speed. We are sailing at 35 knots, on a sea almost flat, it’s really fun !  The boat does not suffer, and men even less. Everyone is excited, especially the fresh Cape Horners. Hello northern hemisphere, that’s not bad at all this record! It will now be increasingly difficult to beat it but still feasible and that’s the good news …”. A natural enthusiasm shared by Thierry Duprey du Vorsent, helmsman / trimmer on board, who joined today’s radio vacation :  “We are in the northern hemisphere for a few minutes and it already seems like being on our usual playground. It’s been thirty-two days since we left the Northern Hemisphere, which roughly accounts for three quarters of the time in the South and one quarter in the North. It brings us closer to home, which is good. The sailing conditions are beautiful, the sea is completely flat and it is almost straight on the road. There are very little squalls, the nights are quiet, starry … we really encounter exceptional conditions and we could not ask for more, including the boat. The weather conditions enable us to break the record but our anxiety is coming from the technique. We have sailed 20,000 miles without making any pit stop, we must keep the equipment in good shape.”

For Brian Thompson, this passage to the North was even more particular: “I was lucky enough to be on the helm doing 35 knots as we counted down 0.02S, 0.01S, 0.01N!! The 3rd small bottle of Champagne we have carried was opened, and some of the bubbly nectar is first given to Neptune, to thank him for a safe passage through the Southern Seas..Then comes the saucisson and the Toblerone, all being shared between the crew and that God of the Sea.”

This return in the North is not the finish line and on board, we specifically know that even after 24 063 miles undergone smoothly, nothing is settled yet. Vigilance is still more than ever a must, as the final conditions for the final stretch ahead appears nicely. With a lead of 1 432 miles and three days advance on Groupama 3 around the same time, a certain serenity sets in, especially as the inter-tropical convergence zone is seen as particularly friendly as recalled Thierry Duprey du Vorsent “The Doldrums are not very active, and thanks to our western position, it should be easy to get through. This will be one of the first times I pass them without a transition zone of dead calm on a single board. Again, we are lucky. We will have to get dressed again in two or three days and get the fleeces and foul weather gears out again. But we will accept it more easily as the finish line won’t be far !”

A fighter named Banque Populaire V

With an average of 26.31 knots since leaving Ushant on November 21st, Loïck Peyron and his men have significantly reduced the time and distance, leaving their fans admiring. Rarely a boat will have scrolled through that amount of miles and still demonstrating such reliability. Qualities that the skipper did not fail to mention this afternoon: “Last night, around 6pm, we were off the coast of Recife in Brazil while we were still off Cape Horn less than a week ago. The Maxi Banque Populaire V is a unique fighter on the planet. We should return to Brest in a week and oddly, it promises to be the most week-long of this round the world course.” But before seeing the end of this last week, the fourteen men still have to compose with the North Atlantic sea before entering the great history of offshore sailing.

* subject to approval and ratification by the WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council) 

[Source: Regatta News] Following a three hour hearing at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania before the International Jury,  the Race Committee’s protest against Investec Loyal was dismissed and Anthony Bell and the crew of his 100ft maxi were finally declared the line honours victors in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

This afternoon at the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011 prizegiving, held in front of a crowd lining Constitution Dock, CYCA Commodore Garry Linacre, Lord Mayor of Hobart, Damon Thomas, and Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia presented Anthony Bell with the JH Illingworth Trophy and a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece for the line honours victory.

“It is the long way around in some ways,” said a delighted Anthony Bell. “It is very relieving to get to this point. There are rules in every sport and, while it wasn’t ideal to go through this, I think that ultimately it gets beyond any question and whatever those questions that were asked have been properly answered.”

As to their victory, when yesterday Investec Loyal beat Bob Oatley’s five time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winning maxi Wild Oats XI to the Hobart finish line by a margin of just 3 minutes 8 seconds, Bell said: “We have come second to Wild Oats quite a lot. We came second last year to them and we kept coming second to them at Hamilton Island. It is an against-the-odds victory for us….I am still waiting for one of my crew members to wake me up and say you’re on watch!

“The buzz is made best by the fact that Wild Oats XI is such a fantastic, professionally-run campaign by the Oatley family and, to have them compete so fiercely, it accelerated and heightened the value to us to go down the wire against a raceboat team like that.  They are the benchmark of supermaxi racing, not just in Australia, but in the world.”

Bell explained that the query to the ABC helicopter pilot about Wild Oats XI’s sails had been made by their tactician Michael Coxon. Coxon is also Managing Director of North Sails Australia and, after the strong winds of the first night at sea, he had been concerned about Wild Oats XI’s mainsail, made of their new product 3Di and believed to be the most expensive sail of its type in the world.

“One of the things that they did take was that Michael Coxon’s question was not to gain any advantage for our boat at all, but more to test how his business client’s product, that they bought off him, was going,” said Bell of the international jury’s decision.

The closest finish in the last 29 years. Hobart, 28 December 2011. Photo copyright Rolex / Kurt Arigo

10 boats home

To date ten boats of the 77 still racing (out of 88 starters) have arrived in Hobart, the latest being Syd Fischer’s modified TP52 Ragamuffin. Of the boats now docked, Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel Pugh 63 Loki is currently favourite for the overall IRC handicap prize in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart. However still ahead of her on handicap is Roger Hickman’s 26 year-old Farr 43 Wild Rose. Still racing, she must finish before 08:12 local time tomorrow (30 December) if she is to beat Loki’s time under handicap.

Currently lying fourth under handicap is Michael Hiatt’s Farr 55 Living Doll, which was the sixth boat to reach Hobart, arriving at 08:46 local time this morning. Hiatt believes they lost a vital 15 minutes to Loki coming up the Derwent River on the approach to the finish. “It got back up to 30 knots and then we had a nice run up here, but it faded at the end of the Derwent,” he said.

Unlike the maxi boat leaders, which, from time to time, parked up over the latter half of their race, Hiatt said that on Living Doll they never stopped.

On the breezy first night at sea, they had seen 40 knots in the gusts. “It was really tricky. Some spooky breezes came in and they were pretty fierce. It would drop off to nothing and all of a sudden we’d get a lot more, so we had to handle that, but all of the transitions were really good. We just needed a tweak more speed.”

Hiatt sailed the race with a formidable crew including round the world race winners Steve Cotton and Noel Drennan and even had their own meteorologist on board in the form of Canadian Eric Holden.

Seventh home this morning, 12 minutes after Living Doll was Matt Allen, former Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Rolex Sydney Hobart organisers, aboard his first generation Volvo Open 70, Ichi Ban.

Ichi Ban had suffered a few issues during the race. On the first night the lock jammed, holding their main halyard, and in the strong conditions they were forced to spend the rest of the night sailing with three reefs.  It was only on the following morning they were able to send a crewman aloft enabling them to hoist the sail fully once again.

“That meant we had a really poor first night and it was really hard to recover from there,” said Allen. “We also broke one of the D4s [rigging on the mast], but luckily we picked it up before, otherwise we would have lost the mast.”

Allen said that in 22 Rolex Sydney Hobarts, he had never previously seen such big wind shifts, especially coming down the coast of Tasmania. During the race they ended up using all the sails on board, with the exception of the heavy running spinnaker. “It was hard work for the navigators, but we had nice sailing for the last 24 hours, good reaching spinnaker work – it’s been really enjoyable. The run we had from Tasman Island to the finish was probably the best run I’ve ever had in my entire life.” 

[Source: Rolex Sydney Hobart Race] Investec Loyal’s line honours win is under threat following a protest by the Race Committee of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race this evening.

Investec Loyal crossed the finish line of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) 628 nautical mile race at 19.14.18 AEST in the time of 2 days 6hr 14min 18sec. Shortly after Anthony Bell’s super maxi crossed the finish line off Constitution Dock, a representative of the Race Committee, Howard Piggott, delivered the protest to Bell aboard his yacht.

The Race Committee is protesting Investec Loyal under Racing Rule of Sailing 41 that states: “The sail number of a boat which receives outside help will be notified to the Race Committee with details of the incident and a hearing may be held (if required) to determine any penalty. The penalty for Rule 41 shall be at the discretion of the Race Committee.”

The description of the incident on the protest form is as follows: “Audio recording of conversation between ABC helicopter and Investec Loyal seeking information from the helicopter of the sail plan in use on Wild Oats XI. In particular information as to whether Wild Oats XI was flying a trysail. This is assessed to breach 41 by soliciting help from an outside source.”

Wild Oats XI and Investec, sailing neck and neck towards the finish line. Hobart, 28 December 2011. Photo copyright Rolex / Daniel Forster

The Protest Hearing will be held by the International Jury at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania at 10.00 AEST tomorrow (Thursday).

Dockside after the race finish, Garry Linacre, the commodore of the CYCA, told the assembled crowd: “Some minutes ago I received this copy of a protest form. It is a protest form for the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011, the organizing authority of the CYCA.

“The Race Committee, which is chaired by Tim Cox, has protested that rules may have been infringed on the 27th December at 06:30 hours, 30 nautical miles south of Merimbula.  There is an ABC chopper pilot that is a nominated witness. 

“I am very sorry about this event, I can assure you. Unfortunately, that has stopped our celebration here, as the result comes provisional until the protest is heard tomorrow,” he said.

“I would like to congratulate Investec Loyal on their magnificent sailing in this race, and also Wild Oats XI.”